There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
Jim MattisRead
For whatever trauma came with service in tough circumstances, we should take what we learned - take our post-traumatic growth - and, like past generations coming home, bring our sharpened strengths to bear, bring our attitude of gratitude to bear.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embrace the lessons learned from challenging experiences and use them to grow positively.
This quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing the growth that can occur after facing difficult circumstances. Jim Mattis suggests that the challenges and traumas experienced during service can lead to newfound strengths and perspectives, which should be utilized positively in life. By fostering an attitude of gratitude, individuals can enhance their resilience and contribute positively to society, much like previous generations who returned from hardships with valuable lessons and experiences.
Themes
TraumaGrowthStrengthGratitudeService
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about resilience, I might quote Mattis to illustrate how overcoming adversity can lead to personal development.
More from Jim Mattis
All quotes →There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.
Jim MattisRead
Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!
Jim MattisRead
I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn't waste their lives because I didn't have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.
Jim MattisRead
Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.
Jim MattisRead
It's very hard to live with yourself if you don't stick with your moral code.
Jim MattisRead
Similar quotes
Warriorship is so tender, without skin, without tissue, naked and raw. It is soft and gentle. You have renounced putting on a new suit of armor. You have renounced growing a thick, hard skin. You are willing to expose naked flesh, bone and marrow to the world.
Chogyam TrungpaRead
Although the power is lacking, the will is commendable.
OvidRead
Until we have courage to recognize cruelty for what it is - whether its victim is human or animal - we cannot expect things to be much better in the world. There can be no double standard. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.
Rachel CarsonRead
If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Non-violence is a very powerful weapon. Most people don't understand the power of non-violence and tend to be amazed by the whole idea. Those who have been involved in bringing about change and see the difference between violence and non-violence are firmly committed to a lifetime of non-violence, not because it is easy or because it is cowardly, but because it is an effective and very powerful way.
Cesar ChavezRead
The works of mercy are the opposite of the works of war, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, nursing the sick, visiting the prisoner. But we are destroying crops, setting fire to entire villages and to the people in them. We are not performing the works of mercy but the works of war.
Dorothy DayRead